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January 29, 2018January 28, 2018

Odds & Ends-Volume 210

We begin Odds & Ends this week with the sad new of New Orleans Pelicans forward DeMarcus Cousins and his season coming to an end.

Cousins tore his Achilles in the closing seconds of their 115-113 win over Houston on Friday. The eighth year veteran was having a terrific season and an MVP-caliber one,averaging 25.2 points, 12.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game in his first full season in New Orleans,which led to him earning a starting nod in the All-Star Game this year,something he will now miss due to the injury.

“We were starting to play damn good basketball,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry told ESPN in a text message. “DeMarcus has been great.”

Cousins needed the help of teammates to get off of the floor once he got hurt.

“I feel horrible for him,” Gentry said after the game. “Everything that he’s done, and what he’s tried to do for us this year, and what he’s made himself, and the improvements in all areas that he’s made on and off the court, has just been great. I don’t want that to happen to a guy that’s trying to better himself.”

You hate to see this kind of thing happen to any player and since he was a former King I feel for him. He had the kind of season you would expect him to have and to see it end like it did is just awful. While I don’t miss seeing him in Sacramento, I will miss hearing about his successes this season and I sincerely hope he makes it back with the Pelicans next season. I like seeing him and Anthony Davis together,but who knows if those two will be teammates again with the trade deadline coming up and free agency as well.

A scary moment for the Sacramento Kings yesterday when head coach Dave Joerger fell to one knee early in the team’s game against the San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio won the game at home 113-98.

He was helped up by assistant coach Elston Turner and then ran into the locker room. Turner coached the rest of the game in his absence.

The Kings said Joerger experienced a “momentary episode of lightheadedness” and would not return to the game for precautionary reasons. He was even seen experiencing some discomfort while his image was on the scoreboard overhead during introductions.

I was watching the game when this happened and it reminded me a little of when former Kings coach Jerry Reynolds collapsed during a game in 1988 and had to be hospitalized.

It reminded me that coaching is a very demanding job both mentally and physically and that these guys have to stay in shape just like the players. I do hope Joerger is okay and that he takes it a little easier for his own health.

Hockey fans, the NHL All-Star Game is coming back to the Bay Area.

It was announced this weekend that the midseason exhibition will be making its return to San Jose in 2019 at SAP Center. It will be the second time that the Sharks and the city of San Jose will play host to the event,the first time was in 1997.

The events of the NHL All-Star Weekend will take place on Jan. 25-27.

“We are thankful and thrilled that the National Hockey League has decided, once again, to bring one of its premier events to San Jose,” said San Jose Sharks Co-President John Tortora. “NHL All-Star Weekend is for our loyal and outstanding fans, who have eagerly anticipated the return of this event, and for the city of San Jose as the hockey world descends to shine an international spotlight on our great city. NHL All-Star Weekend represents the third in a string of League events coming to the South Bay over a four-year period, including the Stadium Series outdoor hockey game in 2015, the Stanley Cup Final in 2016, and now the NHL All-Star Weekend in 2019.”

I think this will be a great event for the Bay Area. There are a lot of great hockey fans there and I know that this game will be very much one to look forward to. I may even go just so I can see Connor McDavid do his thing. It would be fun!

Finally this week we do have some football-related stuff, well kind of.

Vince McMahon announced last week that the XFL, the ill-fated league that failed miserably during the 2001 season,will make a comeback starting in 2020.

The league will begin a 10 week inaugural season with eight teams,all owned by McMahon. The league will also not allow players to kneel during the national anthem or other political gestures and players with criminal records will also not be considered to join the league.

Potential cities were not named,but for those fans pining for the San Francisco Demons and Memphis Maniax to come back, you might as well keep dreaming, McMahon has stated he wants to have new teams with new identities and not wanting to recycle old ones.

I honestly don’t see this version of the league lasting. I do think it will have a few seasons of staying power in that it will attract football fans who are and have been turned off by the NFL allowing players their first amendment right to free speech and expression,but in the end it will not be something that lasts long. Despite the league having attendance and ratings declines, the NFL is still king and will be for years to come.

That’s all for Odds & Ends this week, have a great week wherever you may be.